Managing i/o operations in a shared file system

ABSTRACT

A method for managing I/O operations in a shared file system environment. The method includes receiving for each of a plurality of compute nodes, information associated with I/O accesses to a shared file system, and applications for executing the I/O accesses. The method includes creating application profiles, based, at least in part, on the received information. The method then includes determining execution priorities for the application, based, at least in part, on the created application profiles.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of data processingmeans for file management, and more particularly to managing I/Ooperations in a shared file system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cluster computing is one of the most popular platforms forhigh-performance computing today. Cluster architecture is useful forlarge computing systems because by grouping servers and other resourcestogether in a cluster, organizations can increase performance, balancetraffic and create high availability. Important, however, is that thecluster appears as a single highly available system to end users, andfor both economical and technical reasons, most cluster computingsystems use a shared file system. A shared file system allows access todata and files by multiple servers via a high speed network. Each servercan then perform I/O operations at the speed of the network, however,when I/O requirements and activities from the cluster exceed the I/Ocapability, there are significant degradations in the I/O performance.Additionally, like traditional parallel computing systems, the I/Osubsystems of clusters may form a bottleneck that affects overall systemperformance.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, computer programproduct, and computer system for managing I/O operations in a sharedfile system environment. The method includes receiving, by one or morecomputer processors, for each of a plurality of compute nodes,information associated with I/O accesses to a shared file system, andapplications for executing the I/O accesses. The method includescreating, by the one or more computer processors, application profiles,based, at least in part, on the received information. The method thenincludes determining, by the one or more computer processors, executionpriorities for the application, based, at least in part, on the createdapplication profiles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a shared file systemenvironment, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 depicts operational steps of the analytics engine of FIG. 1 foranalyzing collected information in order to manage and balance I/Ooperations in the shared file system environment, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of components of a computer system 300,such as a computer system operating within the shared file systemenvironment 100 and on which the I/O subsystem manager may run, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer-readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code/instructions embodiedthereon.

Any combination of computer-readable media may be utilized.Computer-readable media may be a computer-readable signal medium or acomputer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium maybe, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, ordevice, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specificexamples (a non-exhaustive list) of a computer-readable storage mediumwould include the following: an electrical connection having one or morewires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory(RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compactdisc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magneticstorage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In thecontext of this document, a computer-readable storage medium may be anytangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or inconnection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer-readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer-readable signal medium may be any computer-readable medium thatis not a computer-readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer-readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java®, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on a user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmabledata processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce acomputer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute onthe computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference tothe Figures. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a sharedfile system environment, generally designated 100, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

Shared file system environment 100 includes a shared file system 110,computers 102A to 102N, and I/O subsystem manager 130, allinterconnected over network 120. Network 120 can be, for example, alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) such as theInternet, a storage area network (SAN), or a combination of the three,and can include wired, wireless, or fiber optic connections. In general,network 120 can be any combination of connections and protocols thatwill support communications between shared file system 110, computers102A to 102N, and I/O subsystem manager 130.

Shared file system 110 is a file system which is shared to provideaccess from multiple computers, for example, computers 102A to 102N,over a network, for example, network 120. Shared file system 110 canrepresent a shared file system, a clustered file system, a parallel filesystem, a distributed file system, a network file system, or any otherfile system which can provide a manner of storing and accessing data,including using redundancy and location independent addressing, toimprove reliability and performance.

In various embodiments of the present invention, computers 102A to 102Ncan each be a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a personal computer(PC), a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a handheld computing deviceor smart-phone, a thin client, a mainframe computer, a networked servercomputer, or any programmable electronic device capable of runningapplications in serial or parallel, accessing network 120 andcommunicating with I/O subsystem manager 130. Each of computers 102A to102N represents a compute node, which can be any device connected to thenetwork and running its own instance of an operating system. In anexemplary embodiment, each of computers 102A to 102N can runapplications in either serial or parallel, and each computer, or the setof computers, may represent a computing system utilizing clusteredcomputers and components to act as a single pool of resources whenaccessed through a network.

In shared file system environment 100, each of computers 102A to 102Nincludes I/O agents 104A to 104N, respectively, and each I/O agent iscouple to one of I/O masters 132A to 132N. I/O agents 104A to 104N arein charge of monitoring and controlling I/O operations in real time atthe kernel level, per compute node and per application on each ofcomputers 102A to 102N. In an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, monitoring I/O operations per compute node and perapplication can include recording, or creating records, of the I/Oactivity and operations and storing the records in a database. A definedset of I/O agents 104 is managed by an I/O master 132. In exemplaryembodiments of the present invention, the number of I/O agents 104depends on the size of shared file system 110, and can be adapted basedon the size and performance requirements of the shared file system,types of applications running on each of the computers 102 (also thecompute nodes 102), and compute node architecture, including number ofcores, memory size, and number of network links. I/O agents 104 haveaccess to monitoring data and operating system parameters, for example,in order to monitor and control, for example, block, delay or slow down,I/O activity and I/O operations on each compute node for eachapplication in real time, report records to their respective I/O masters132, and receive operations from their respective I/O masters. Invarious embodiments of the present invention, I/O agents 104 can alsocontrol dynamic parameters of each compute node 102, such as clockfrequency. I/O requirements, operations, and real time activities arecommunicated to I/O subsystem manager 130 via I/O agents 104A to 104N oneach compute node, computers 102A to 102N in shared file systemenvironment 100.

I/O subsystem manager 130 balances and optimizes I/O accesses andperformances by setting application execution priorities and resourceallocations within shared file system environment 100, minimizes I/Ooverhead, and manages application scheduling based on the I/Orequirements, operations and real time activities received via I/Oagents 104. I/O subsystem manager 130 includes I/O masters 132A to 132N,I/O collector 134, analytics engine 136, job scheduler 138 and I/Odatabase 140. I/O subsystem manager 130 can be an integrated programexecuting on a computer system, or each function or module within theI/O subsystem manager may run on any combination of separate computersystems within shared file system environment 100. Internal and externalcomponents of a computer system on which I/O subsystem manager 130 mayoperate in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention are depictedand described in further detail with respect to FIG. 3.

Each I/O master 132 manages a set of I/O agents 104A to 104N. The numberof I/O masters 132 depends on the number of I/O agents 104. In anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, the number of I/O masters132 can be adjusted to improve the ability of I/O subsystem manager 130to adapt to increased I/O operations and activities. I/O masters 132A to132N receive I/O records from their respective I/O agents 104, and sendoperations to the I/O agents. Each I/O master 132 shares informationwith other I/O masters to control I/O operations within shared filesystem environment 100, per compute node and per application, in orderto balance and optimize I/O performance based on I/O capabilities of theshared file system environment. Each I/O master sends I/O applicationrecords to the I/O collector, for example, I/O collector 134 on I/Osubsystem manager 130, and receives application and I/O policies andpriorities from the I/O collector.

I/O collector 134 is connected to each I/O master and acts to centralizeinformation. I/O collector 134 collects application profile information,for example, application names, test case data, number of compute nodes,types of compute nodes, I/O requirements, I/O frequency, I/Ocommunication, I/O computation ratios, I/O patterns, types of executionand execution profiles. I/O collector 134 sends the collectedinformation to analytics engine 136. In various embodiments of thepresent invention, a secondary, or backup, I/O collector may be present.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, job scheduler 138is a computer application for controlling and monitoring programexecution in a network of computers, such as is present in shared filesystem environment 100. Job scheduler 138 sets application executionpriorities and receives resource allocations and job scheduling ordersfrom analytics engine 136. Application execution priorities control I/Oaccesses to shared file system 110 from each compute node 102. Jobscheduler 138 may take into account a variety of policies andparameters, for example, users or application types, in determiningwhether to submit an application to shared file system environment 100.

Analytics engine 136 receives the collected, centralized applicationprofile information from I/O collector 134, creates application profilesfor analysis and decision, and stores the application profiles in adatabase, such as I/O database 140. Analytics engine 136 analyzes thedata in the stored application profiles in order to manage theapplication workload and resources within shared file system environment100. Analytics engine 136 determines actions to be taken by jobscheduler 138 and at the compute node level by I/O agents 104A to 104Nand sends orders to either the job scheduler to manage applicationqueues and jobs currently running on compute nodes 102, or to I/O agentson each compute node 102 (via I/O collector 134 and I/O masters 132) toperform actions at the compute node level. Analytics engine 136 can alsoreceive application priority information from job scheduler 138. Whilein FIG. 1, analytics engine 136 is shown separate from job scheduler138, one of skill in the art will appreciate that analytics engine 136may operate within job scheduler 138.

I/O database 140 stores the application profiles created by analyticsengine 136. Stored application profiles are analyzed by analytics engine136 and can describe I/O requirements, I/O patterns, types of execution,and execution profiles. Such execution profiles include parameters suchas number and type of compute nodes, I/O frequency, I/O communication,and I/O computation ratios.

FIG. 2 depicts operational steps of analytics engine 136 for analyzingcollected information in order to manage and balance I/O operations inshared file system environment 100, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.

Analytics engine 136 receives information from each I/O agent, via I/Omasters 132A to 132N and I/O collector 134 (step 202). Informationwithin shared file system environment 100 is collected by I/O agents132A to 132N at each compute node 102 and transmitted to I/O masters132A to 132N and centralized by I/O collector 134. Analytics engine 136receives the collected and centralized information, which includes, forexample, application names, types of applications running on computenodes, number of compute nodes, I/O frequency, I/O patterns, and otherI/O real time operations information.

Analytics engine 136 analyzes the received information (step 204) andcreates application profile(s) (step 206). Analytics engine 136 createsan I/O profile for each application to obtain information such aswhether an application is I/O intensive, what type of I/O operations arerequired, and what resources the application needs within shared filesystem environment 100.

Analytics engine 136 stores the created profile(s) (step 208). Thecreated profiles can be stored in I/O database 140 for access byanalytics engine 136.

Analytics engine 136 sends managing information to job scheduler 138 orcompute nodes 102 (step 210). Analytics engine 136 uses the createdprofiles to determine what actions should be taken by either jobscheduler 138 or by I/O agents 104A to 104N at the compute node level.Analytics engine 136 can send orders to job scheduler 138 to manage jobqueues and the jobs currently running. Analytics engine 136 can alsosend orders to I/O agents 104A to 104N, through I/O masters 132A to 132Nand I/O collector 134, to manage applications and operating systemparameters, for example, at the compute node level.

FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of components of a computer system 300,such as a computer system operating within shared file systemenvironment 100 and on which I/O subsystem manager 130 may run, inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Itshould be appreciated that FIG. 3 provides only an illustration of oneimplementation and does not imply any limitations with regard to theenvironments in which different embodiments may be implemented. Manymodifications to the depicted environment may be made.

Computer system 300 can include communications fabric 302, whichprovides communications between computer processor(s) 304, memory 306,persistent storage 308, communications unit 310, and input/output (I/O)interface(s) 312. Communications fabric 302 can be implemented with anyarchitecture designed for passing data and/or control informationbetween processors (such as microprocessors, communications and networkprocessors, etc.), system memory, peripheral devices, and any otherhardware components within a system. For example, communications fabric302 can be implemented with one or more buses.

Memory 306 and persistent storage 308 are computer-readable storagemedia. In this embodiment, memory 306 includes random access memory(RAM) 314 and cache memory 316. In general, memory 306 can include anysuitable volatile or non-volatile computer-readable storage media.

In various embodiments of the present invention, I/O subsystem manager130 and each of I/O masters 132A to 132N, I/O collector 134, analyticsengine 136, job scheduler 138 and I/O database 140 can be stored inpersistent storage 308 for execution and/or access by one or more of therespective computer processors 304 via one or more memories of memory306. In this embodiment, persistent storage 308 includes a magnetic harddisk drive. Alternatively, or in addition to a magnetic hard disk drive,persistent storage 308 can include a solid state hard drive, asemiconductor storage device, read-only memory (ROM), erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, or any othercomputer-readable storage media that is capable of storing programinstructions or digital information.

The media used by persistent storage 308 may also be removable. Forexample, a removable hard drive may be used for persistent storage 308.Other examples include optical and magnetic disks, thumb drives, andsmart cards that are inserted into a drive for transfer onto anothercomputer-readable storage medium that is also part of persistent storage308.

Communications unit 310, in these examples, provides for communicationswith other data processing systems or devices, including computers 102Ato 102N and shared file system 110. In these examples, communicationsunit 310 includes one or more network interface cards. Communicationsunit 310 may provide communications through the use of either or bothphysical and wireless communications links. I/O subsystem manager 130and each of I/O masters 132A to 132N, I/O collector 134, analyticsengine 136, job scheduler 138 and I/O database 140 may be downloaded topersistent storage 308 through communications unit 310.

I/O interface(s) 312 allows for input and output of data with otherdevices that may be connected to computer system 300. For example, I/Ointerface 312 may provide a connection to external devices 318 such as akeyboard, keypad, a touch screen, and/or some other suitable inputdevice. External devices 318 can also include portable computer-readablestorage media such as, for example, thumb drives, portable optical ormagnetic disks, and memory cards. Software and data used to practiceembodiments of the present invention, e.g., I/O masters 132A to 132N,I/O collector 134, analytics engine 136, job scheduler 138 and I/Odatabase 140, can be stored on such portable computer-readable storagemedia and can be loaded onto persistent storage 308 via I/O interface(s)312. I/O interface(s) 312 also connect to a display 320. Display 320provides a mechanism to display data to a user and may be, for example,a computer monitor or an incorporated display screen, such as is used intablet computers and smart phones.

The programs described herein are identified based upon the applicationfor which they are implemented in a specific embodiment of theinvention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular programnomenclature herein is used merely for convenience, and thus theinvention should not be limited to use solely in any specificapplication identified and/or implied by such nomenclature.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for managing I/O operations in a sharedfile system environment, the method comprising the steps of: receiving,by one or more computer processors, for each of a plurality of computenodes, information associated with I/O accesses to a shared file system,and applications for executing the I/O accesses; creating, by the one ormore computer processors, application profiles, based, at least in part,on the received information; and determining, by the one or morecomputer processors, execution priorities for the applications, based,at least in part, on the created application profiles.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the received information includes one or more of:application names, types of applications running on each of theplurality of compute nodes, number of compute nodes, applicationexecution types, I/O resource requirements, I/O access, frequency, I/Oaccess patterns, and I/O real time operations information.
 3. The methodof claim 1, further comprising the steps of: determining, by the one ormore computer processors, resource allocations for the applicationexecution priorities, based, at least in part, on the createdapplication profiles; and communicating, by the one or more computerprocessors, the resource allocations to each of the plurality of computenodes.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storingthe received information for each of the plurality of compute nodes andthe created application profiles in a database, the database accessiblewithin the shared file system environment.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising the step of communicating, by the one or morecomputer processors, the execution priorities for the applications toeach of the plurality of compute nodes.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising the steps of: determining, by the one or morecomputer processors, a job schedule, based, at least in part, on thedetermined execution priorities for the applications; and communicating,by the one or more computer processors, the job schedule to theplurality of compute nodes.
 7. A computer program product for managingI/O operations in a shared file system environment, the computer programproduct comprising: one or more computer-readable tangible storage mediaand program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readabletangible storage media, the program instructions comprising: programinstructions to receive information for each of a plurality of computenodes, information associated with I/O accesses to a shared file system,and applications for executing the I/O accesses; program instructions tocreate application profiles, based, at least in part, on the receivedinformation; and program instructions to determine execution prioritiesfor the applications, based, at least in part, on the createdapplication profiles.
 8. The computer program product of claim 7,wherein the received information includes one or more of: applicationnames, types of applications running on each of the plurality of computenodes, number of compute nodes, application execution types, I/Oresource requirements, I/O access, frequency, I/O patterns, and I/O realtime operations information.
 9. The computer program product of claim 7,further comprising: program instructions to determine resourceallocations for the application execution priorities, based, at least inpart, on the created application profiles; and program instructions tocommunicate the resource allocations to each of the plurality of computenodes.
 10. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprisingprogram instructions to store the received information for each of theplurality of compute nodes and the created application profiles in adatabase, the database accessible within the shared file systemenvironment.
 11. The computer program product of claim 7, furthercomprising program instructions to communicate the execution prioritiesfor the applications to each of the plurality of compute nodes.
 12. Thecomputer program product of claim 7, further comprising: programinstructions to determine a job schedule, based, at least in part, onthe determined execution priorities for the applications; and programinstructions to communicate the job schedule to the plurality of computenodes.
 13. A computer system for managing I/O operations in a sharedfile system environment, the computer system comprising: one or morecomputer processors; one or more computer-readable tangible storagemedia; program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readabletangible storage media for execution by at least one of the one or morecomputer processors, the program instructions comprising: programinstructions to receive information for each of a plurality of computenodes, information associated with I/O accesses to a shared file system,and applications for executing the I/O accesses; program instructions tocreate application profiles, based, at least in part, on the receivedinformation; and program instructions to determine execution prioritiesfor the applications, based, at least in part, on the createdapplication profiles.
 14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein thereceived information includes one or more of: application names, typesof applications running on each of the plurality of compute nodes,number of compute nodes, application execution types, I/O resourcerequirements, I/O access, frequency, I/O patterns, and I/O real timeoperations information.
 15. The computer system of claim 13, furthercomprising: program instructions to determine resource allocations forthe application execution priorities, based, at least in part, on thecreated application profiles; and program instructions to communicatethe resource allocations to each of the plurality of compute nodes. 16.The computer system of claim 13, further comprising program instructionsto store the received information for each of the plurality of computenodes and the created application profiles in a database, the databaseaccessible within the shared file system environment.
 17. The computersystem of claim 13, further comprising program instructions tocommunicate the execution priorities for the applications to each of theplurality of compute nodes.
 18. The computer system of claim 13, furthercomprising: program instructions to determine a job schedule, based, atleast in part, on the determined execution priorities for theapplications; and program instructions to communicate the job scheduleto the plurality of compute nodes.